Proszowice

History

First mention about the village of Proszowice comes from 1222. The origin of its name is not known, probably the village was named after a knight named Proszkomir, who lived here. By 1240, Proszowice already had a brick church of St. John the Baptist. The village was privately owned, and in the mid-14th century it became royal property of King Casimir III the Great, who granted it town charter in 1358. The King greatly contributed to the development of Proszowice, building here a palace, which for some time was one of the royal residences (later on, its role was taken on by the Niepołomice Castle). Proszowice prospered due to several royal privileges. A number of artisans lived here, there was a parish school, and the period from the early 15th century to the early 17th century is regarded as Golden Age of the town, which was one of the most important centers of Kraków Voivodeship; here sejmiks took place. King Casimir IV Jagiellon initiated the construction of a new church, which was finished in 1454 and was among most impressive Gothic churches in Lesser Poland. Here, Stańczyk, the legendary court jester was born, and in the 16th century, Proszowice became one of centers of Protestant Reformation. All Catholic churches in the area were turned into Calvinist or Polish Brethren prayer houses, but later on, the Counter-Reformation prevailed. In 1616, the town was almost completely burned in a fire. Like almost all towns of Lesser Poland, Proszowice was destroyed in the Swedish invasion of Poland (1655–1660). The town was annexed by Austria in the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. After the Polish victory in the Austro-Polish War of 1809, it became part of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and after the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it became part of Russian-controlled…